1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of electronic toys. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cost-effective interactive toy that displays successive pictorial scenes and concurrently outputs audio to prompt interactive participation by the user.
2. Description of Art Related to the Invention
Over the last few decades, designers in the toy field have developed many types of audio-visual toys. An audio-visual toy is defined as a device that concurrently (i) produces one or more pictorial scenes in succession and (ii) outputs audio that narrates a portion of a featured story represented by the pictorial scene. For example, there exists audio-visual toys that produce continuous pictorial scenes accompanied by audio, without soliciting any active participation by the user. These toys operate as story-telling devices and may not be used as interactive, educational tools. Another type of audio-visual toy provides a number of discrete pictorial scenes, each of which is successively displayed after a predetermined period of time has elapsed. However, this time period is not adjustable precluding a child from actively participating in the story according to his or her own level of understanding.
Albeit some audio-visual toys are "interactive" by allowing its user to actively participate in selecting narrative portions of the featured story, they may suffer from a number of disadvantages.
One disadvantage is that conventional interactive audio-visual toys are expensive which prevents adults of modest means from purchasing these toys for their children. The expensive nature of the interactive toys are due partially to the requirement that a costly display monitor (e.g., projection equipment, cathode ray tube, a flat panel display, etc.) and associated circuitry is needed to display the pictorial scene for the user.
Another disadvantage is that conventional interactive audio-visual toys usually are heavy and cumbersome. This characteristic prevents such interactive audio-visual toys from being truly portable.
Yet another disadvantage is that most conventional interactive audio-visual toys are too complex for young children to set-up or use. Such complexity may discourage the child from using the audio-visual toy.
Still another disadvantage is that conventional interactive audio-visual toys are designed with multiple independent components working in collaboration. This increases the likelihood that the toy may be inoperable if one of the components becomes damaged or lost.